Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Thrival Kits for the PUNC Planets: Uranus

I
chose the photo for this Uranus Thrival Kit because it reminds me of
Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel, the Creation of Adam. The fresco
illustrates the story in Genesis where God breathes life into the first
man. [1]

Uranus is the God-spark,
transmitted to human beings, zapping them with divine electricity or electric
divinity. It is the spark of life.

Uranian people and transits are
transmission lines for the Divine Juice. Uranus drafts you as a grid for
distributing light. It takes some shoring up for most human nervous systems to
handle the high voltage. But make no mistake—transmissions are involved and
jolts that sometimes shock us into new realities.

If you’re like me, Uranian by birth
(Uranus square Sun in my case), you have an addiction to excitement and
probably to caffeine. These things are Uranian, along with low boredom
threshold. If these characteristics “aren’t you,” you might develop them during
these transits. Another thing to be aware of so the change doesn’t alarm you:
Uranus transits can lead to insomnia because of the excitement factor. You
might have to negotiate with your nervous system about exchanging some of your
caffeine for zzz’s.

What
Uranus Asks of You

The opening pictures are so powerful
because they represent what Uranus wants—to spark and inject you with light.
Uranus wants your body. Your choice is to resist and have a very miserable
experience—I hate to say it, but it would be akin to rape because it’s going to
happen either way. Choice B: You can find the reasons to love this God of Life
and to relish his overtures of intimacy. (Goddess, if you prefer her advances.
Uranus is androgynous.) Those come-ons may be unpredictable, foreign, shocking
and render you feeling so unique and isolated; you’re the cheese who stands
alone in the nursery rhyme, The Farmer in
the Dell. On the upside, they are exhilarating, stimulating and thrilling
as you get major glimpses of the big picture of where you’re going and where humanity
itself is heading. Hang onto your socks and decide to enjoy the ride.

Uranus asks you to take risks, to
be willing to feel alone at times in your unique perspective on the leading
edge. It also asks you to relish the role of catalyst and to know that long-term
progress is worth some short-term discomfort.

What
You May Be Resisting

Uranus is progress. It's Change with a Capital C. We all resist change. It’s only human to
grip onto what’s normal, regular and routine, because all of life is change.
What doesn’t change very much or very quickly is an oasis in this chronic,
underlying shake-up. Gripping the
familiar is like using a hand rail on stairs, a seat belt in your car, or a net
if you’re an aerial acrobat. Giving up these grounding rituals and the safety implied
in them is difficult, especially during Big Change Times.

Like all the outer planets, Uranus
tests our trust. For a while, we have to ride our bikes and let go of the
handle bars. (“Look, Ma! No hands!”) As children, we relished these moments of
pure freedom

that Uranus brings. As adults, we have slowly let more fear creep
into our bodies and beings until we barely know how to mix in a little risk to
have the thrill of the ride.

Sometimes we don’t want even a
glimpse of what’s ahead. We have talked ourselves into thinking it’s too scary.
I have had clients and friends who don’t want to look, and they are adamant
about it. (Not even a peek.) I have always felt there is more power in knowing
where I’m headed, even if I don’t know the details of the journey. Digging your
heels into the present and/or past is, of course, your option. Unfortunately,
the result is that Uranus will have to send more volts of shock and disruption to
awaken you to the next steps on your path. To me, that’s much scarier.

The
Shift Needed to Thrive

What we need to bring to Uranus
transits is something we actually learn from Chiron, namely, that things don’t
have to be either/or. They can be both/and. In other words, you won’t lose
the best of the past or present. You can take it with you into the future. Here's a great exercise to do during a Uranus transit:

Pack an imaginary suitcase of what
you most love in your past and present and take it with you into the future.
You will figure out, with the help of Uranus, how to update these treasures to
fit into where your life is headed next. However, make it a small carry-on, not
a trunk. If you can’t carry it easily, you can expect it to pop open and all
that’s truly unnecessary will fall out.

If taking the blessings of past love
and learning into the future weren’t possible and, in fact, highly recommended,
there would be no wisdom. We learn by experience. Uranus asks us to be open to
new ones and to integrate these new experiences withwhat we already know.

To thrive: Be willing to see the big picture of your life and how life itself is directing
you to your next chapters.

How
to Dance with Uranus’s Change of Tune

This is a time where it’s not only
OK; it’s advisable for you to be future-oriented, oddball, extra insightful,
brilliant and to voice your personal genius and apply it to your own issues and
to those in the communities you’re part of. The dance of Uranus is rock ‘n’
roll—sporadic, jerky, individualistic, and done with partners but while doing
your own thing in tandem.

It’s probably easier for you to do
the dance if you have a big dose of Uranus natally. If you don’t, consult your
Uranian friends about feeling Uranian for a season and ask how they deal with
some of these issues on an ongoing basis. They have had time to get used to
channeling this wild and crazy energy. You are morphing, and PUNC people in
general—those with plenty of outerplanetary energy in their natal charts—make
good companions for finding your way and maximizing your experience. Not to
mention PUNCs rock!

Take your cue from that Uranian
music, rock ‘n’ roll: Do your own thing with others and see what kind of
interesting Improv comes out of all that shaking and self-expression in close
proximity to each other.

Now for some resources:

Astrology
readings – Any outerplanetary transit is a great time for a reading, but
since many people consider Uranus the modern ruler of astrology, it seems
especially apropos. Not only that, but astrologers are Uranian by nature and
represent those high-voltage people who can relate to you in your quickened state.
Your astrologer will probably have plenty of tools and clinical experience to
supplement your understanding and toolkit for thriving during this transit. He
or she may also be a vehicle for any Uranian flash insights that you need to
hear.

Energy
work – Uranus transits ask you to amp up your capacity for receiving
divine/cosmic transmissions. Thus, it’s a fantastic time to do bodywork that’s
energy related. Here’s an article on Five
Types of Energy Healing for Holistic Health, including Reiki, Polarity
Therapy, Qigong, Shiatsu and Matrix Energetics. Explore more deeply what
resonates, and if none do, let this lead you to other experiments with Dr.
Google, Bing—or your favorite search engineer. “Experiment” is a Uranian word,
and it’s a great time to try something that would normally seem offbeat to you.

Structural
bodywork – Back to the electrical grid analogy: the higher the voltage you
are running in your system during Uranian events, the more you need to have your
network in great working order to handle the load. The spine is central to our
nervous system. It’s a good time to focus on this crucial structure. Consider
chiropractic, especially chiropractic and other therapies that center on the
neurological relationship to spinal alignment. And how hard would regular
massage be to take during this transit? From an energetic standpoint, your
physical vehicle is on overload. Pamper yourself as much as possible.

Medical
and mental health issues – We are talking about a transit that affects your
nervous system and a time when you could be more overactive in your
neurological and mental faculties. Nervousness, hyper-excitement, and medical
conditions related to these systems are possibilities—but note, not
probabilities. If you have any symptoms along these lines, please follow-up
with an appropriate practitioner, if you feel like something’s “off,” getting a
bit out of control, or if those around you think so.

The latter point is especially important. During a Uranus transit—and when we
have a lot of Uranian energy natally—we are very independent and can’t imagine
anyone else knows our unique selves better than we do. Guess again. Sometimes
this is far from the truth, as we are off on our cloud anticipating and
creating the future. We may not be well grounded in our bodies. Our closest
intimates may see better than we do when we’re in danger of system overload.

Friendly
herbs – A Uranus transit is a great time to consider help from an herbalist.
According to The
Mountain Rose Blog: “Nervines are herbs that
specifically support the nervous system. Their effects range from tonics
like Skullcap and Oat Tops, to mildly calming herbs like Catnip and
Chamomile, to strongly sedative ones like Valerian and Hops.”

Grounding
– Big electrical loads require adequate grounding. Grounding activities are
especially important during these transits or if you have a large natal load of
Uranian energy. Examples: meditation, walking; walking barefoot, especially in
dirt, sand or grass; spending time in nature and with the Earth element. Eating
can be grounding, so eat heavier foods, if your Uranian buzz increases—meat,
carbs and root vegetables. Get enough sleep. Don’t hang out just with other
Uranian geniuses. (You are one, temporarily or permanently!) Be sure your most
salt-of-the-earth friends are in the mix during this high resonating transit
period. The most down-to-earth people who make you laugh and bring you from the
future into the present moment are your best bet. Back to not either/or but both/and: Don’t throw out all your routines, only the ones that beg
for change. A little ritual will help you cope with a lot of changes.

Minimize things that are ungrounding by
nature: flying (literally being up in the air), fasting (see above), and
exposure to too much wind. These are overdoses of the air element. I love what
my friends who have studied Ayurveda call this condition, vatta deranged. You can be prone to enough “derangement” when
Uranus calls. Don’t add to the load by aggravating the air element in your
life.

Sexuality.
Sexuality may or may not qualify as a
“resource,” but I can recommend a book about it that definitely does. It’s easy
to argue that any outerplanetary transit can awaken sexuality, but if you’re
persuaded by Barbara Hand Clow’s theory of the association between Uranus and
rising Kundalini, it’s especially true during Uranian transits. See Liquid Light of Sex: Kundalini, Astrology, and the Key Life Transitions.
This book
offers insights into the “midlife crisis” transit, around age 40, when Uranus
opposes its natal position. The increased Kundalini principle applies to any
transit of Uranus. Sexuality can be either grounding or “deranging,” with the
megavolt variety more prone to the latter. I think it’s important to be aware
that hyper sexuality can be part of this transit and wisdom dictates remembering
its acute context during transits. Since “experimental” is also a Uranian word,
some people become more sexually adventurous.It can either be fun while it lasts or open doors that lead to more
permanent new ways of being in this area of your life.

Music
and Entertainment Tips

Anything futuristic or with themes
of being misfit, before your time, a messenger from the future, or of someone
shocked into new truths or realities are excellent choices during a Uranus
transit. Since Uranus is experimental, try something new and even completely
different from your normal fare.

Music.
Naturally, rock and experimental
music are great during these transits. But Uranus would never want you to limit
yourself. It’s always fun to listen to Holst’sThe Planetsto see what his interpretation of Uranus does for you. A
wonderful tome I recommend is The Healing Energies of Musicby Hal A. Lingerman. He has an entire section devoted to what
astrological energies come through various classical composers. (What a find!)
Given that genius is Uranian, it’s not surprising that Lingerman has found plenty
Aquarian/Air, therefore Uranian pulses, among the greats: Mozart, Schubert, and
Mendelssohn among them.

TV/Movies.
There’s more than one reason to
watchE.T. again during a Uranus transit. First,
you’ll feel like—a stranger in your own land, even skin. Second, coming
full-circle to the beginning of this article, Elliott and ET touch fingers in
strong resemblance to the fingers of God and Adam in Michelangelo’s Creation of
Man. They exchange the spark of life and each other’s knowledge. Imagine you’re
ET as you watch, and see what comes up for you in relation to your Uranus
transit.

Wikipedia has quite a comprehensive
list of Films
Set in the Future that span from the 1950s to the present. Some of the
diverse mentions include 2001: A Space
Odyssey, the Planet of the Apes
franchise, Dr. Who, SpaceBalls and Star Trek. In other words, everything from the sublime to the
ridiculous and from the serious to the hilarious. I recommend watching these
films to see what lights up about fears of the future and, at the other
extreme, excitement about embracing it.

Moviecus, a movie search engine,
lists 152 movies
with themes about misfits. Here’s another opportunity to watch, be
entertained and to explore the pains and triumphs of feeling like the odd
(wo)man out.

During a Uranus transit, you might
especially enjoy movies with a surprise ending or plot twist. Of course, you
can only watch ones you haven’t already seen or have forgotten how they
end.Some ideas from Great Twists:

Disclaimer: This article does not
mean to imply any recommendation or certification of any healing methods,
individuals or companies mentioned. It is provided purely for informational
purposes. Please make your own determination about the quality of the services
and products discussed. This article and the others referenced are not meant to
constitute advice, nor are they meant to replace medical or psychological
treatment.

4 comments:

Colleen, thanks for asking this excellent question. While the actual manifestation of Uranus Retrograde will be unique in the context of an individual's chart, here are some of the possibilities. The things Uranus rules (some examples: individuality, friendship, insights, genius, and surprises) may be more "introverted." For instance, a U-Rx person might not express his or her individuality as upfront as people with U-Direct and may "cook" their fully expressed self a long time before they let it out. What a surprise to everyone around them when they find out who's really "in there." That's an example of how they give delayed surprises, but they might also receive delayed surprises (and insights) because they are again mulling them subconsciously for a long period and have a slower reaction time to the aha. They might take their time to form friendships and feel simpatico with others, but again, when it finally takes there's a pleasant surprise.

Here are two things to check out and ponder. First, I happened to be on Astrologer Lynn Koiner's website recently. She has a great article on Uranus Retro, both natally and by transit. She's got a lot of other interesting info to add to the mix: http://www.lynnkoiner.com/astrology-articles/uranus-retrograde. Second, now's a great time to try an experiment with the current Uranus Retrograde. I've heard people with natal Mercury Retrograde say they feel they communicate best when Mercury is Retrograde by transit. Maybe the same holds true for Uranus. As Uranus is Rx now through December 21 (since July 22), it'd be a great time to contemplate how this half of the year differs for you as it parallels your natal Uranus Retro. Look for tips in Lynn's article. If you've got time, I'd love it if you'd come back and share your experience in the comments on this post.

Heh. I have Mercury Rx as well, and had read that, but I haven't really noticed any improvement during retro transits. :)

Thanks for the link!

Hmmm, now that I think of it, Comparing Jan-July with July to now, I think that she may be on to something. The problem is that I cannot deal with the Uranian energies and consider really terrible choices! (Thanks, Saturn. :P)Very much the 'raze the ground and start all over again' feelings and choices since July - want to give up being a musician (for the time being) and do medieval sword fighting (yes, that's a thing), want to move, want a new job, want another lover, want to stop being a mom (they're adults now, at least technically)...ai! I'm trying very hard to sit on my hands and not do anything without talking to others first - which is very difficult as I'm not comfortable doing so. So, yeah. I'll mark Dec 21 on my calendar! LOL!

Sounds like what Lynn was saying about the Rx transit bringing the Rx person to action on what has been brewing may be what's happening for you. Consider getting help from the most grounded Earth people you know!(Earth signs and/or earthy, whether Virgos, Tauruses or Caps--or not.) To me the most important thing about Uranian energy is the need to ground it. A person like that makes a great mentor to the Uranian at that time. Quite frankly, I'd be nuts if I weren't a Triple Earth. I have a different outer planet squaring the Big Three, and my Earth Signs are my salvation.

Lynn is really into research, so she may be interested in hearing from you after you've had a chance to finish this Uranus Retro cycle. :)

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